Employers Urged to Tackle Discrimination

The Government’s gender pay reporting regulations came into force in April this year and require companies with 250 or more employees to publish details on what they pay male and female staff.

The Government has heralded the regulations as an important step forward in its campaign to promote gender diversity in the workplace. However, a new survey by Chartered Management Institute (CMI) has revealed that employers must also urgently address organisational culture as part of their efforts to close the gender pay gap.

Chief among this is addressing what it refers to as ‘casual’ acts of gender discrimination: CMI’s survey reveals that four in five (81%) managers have witnessed gender discrimination or bias in their workplace in the last year alone.

As many as 86% of survey respondents said they supported the idea of a more gender balanced workplace, but CMI’s research suggests this is not translating into meaningful action to prevent or challenge negative behaviours. Just 42% of managers who said they witnessed bias in pay or remuneration decisions in the past 12 months said they had taken direct action to challenge the behaviour.

“The gender pay reporting regulations are a great way to encourage employers to figure out how they can equalise what they pay their men and women,” commented Ann Francke, CMI’s chief executive. “Creating transparency and setting targets are just the start; businesses must take a hard look at the reality of the many causes, like casual gender discrimination.”

“We may live in more enlightened times but clearly we still have some way to go,” she added. “Men and women have an equal role in creating a company culture that benefits all, so managers must call out any bad behaviour whenever they witness it.”

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